Band for venetian blinds



sept. 5, 1944. M. MCGREW 2,357,751

BANDS FOR VENETIAN BLI'NDS Filed Oct. 15, 1945 INV ENTOR.

Patented Sept. 5, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BAND FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Maud McGl-ew. Baltimore, Md.

Application October 15, 1943, Serial No. 506,335 4 Claims. (Cl. 16o-178) This invention relates to Venetian blinds and more particularly to a blind which eliminates the conventional ladder type which supports the slats and may be considered as an improvement of the type o! Venetian blind shown in my Patent No. 2,251,361, issued August 5, 1941.

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide simple means whereby the bands may be readily removed from or attached to the blind withoutl removing the complete blind from the window frame.

.Another object of the present invention is to provide a Venetian blind with a band composed of a plurality of hinge connections of plastic, metal or other suitable material.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a Venetian blind with bands, each comprising a plurality of hinge-connections which will at all times break uniformly and evenly when operating the blind by means of a pull rope.

Yet another object of the invention is to prolvide a Venetian blind with bands composed of hinge-connections which will uniformly spread, tilt or collapse the slats when operated by the pull rope. thereby permitting all movements, heretofore desired of Venetian blinds.

Another object of the invention is to provide a Venetian blind with bands which are readily cleanable and may be produced with decorative designs and in any desirable color to secure various decorative color schemes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a Venetian blind with bands which may be quickly removed or attached by anyone without the use of tools.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a Venetian blind with bands which are durable, extremely attractive and economical to manufacture. Y

These and other objects, accomplishments and advantages of the invention will appear in the the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this application, in which:

Figure 1 is an end view of a fragmentary portion of a Venetian blind embodying the invention showing the slats and bands and taken on line I--I of Figure 3.

Figure 2 illustrates a fragmentary front view on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary front view of Figure 1 looking in the direction of arrow A.

Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the upper half of the hinge-connection embodying the invention.

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view of' the lower'half of the hinge-connection embodying my invention.

Figure 6 is an enlarged. fragmentary perspective view of one of the slats as used in my invention, showing the bars which support the hinge-connections and the position of the pull rope. v

Figure '7 illustrates the method of disengaging the slat from one of the hinge members of the bands.

Figure 8 is a. yfragmentary side view showing the blind in a collapsed position.

Reference being had to the drawing in which similar reference numbers denote like parts inA the several views.

Referring now to Figures 1 to 6 of the drawing the numeral I 0 indicates the usual slats made of wood, metal or plastic, or any other material suitablev forthe purpose.

Each of said slats I0 is provided, adjacent the ends thereof, with a pair of oppositely vspaced cut-out portions II, preferably in parallel alignment with the edge I2 of the slats I0, as best shown in Figure 6. A bar I3 is inserted and secured to said edge I2 by spot welding or other suitable methods, if slats are made of sheet steel or by inserting, molding or other suitable methods, the bar ends in the edge of the` slats if they are made of plastic, but, of course the bars may be eliminatedif the slats are made of suiciently strong material, such as steel, plastic, etc., to provide rectangular or rounded punch-outs thereby retaining a substantially thin portion of the edge I2 of the slat so as to form the -bar I3 integrally with said slat on which the hinge-connection I4 of the band I5 may be attached.

The usual pull or operating rope I8 passes through an aperture Il at each end of the slats preferably positioned centrally between the bars I3 in order to register with the bands I5 so as to make the pull-rope concealed from view when the blind is in assembled condition.

'I'he bands I5, supporting the slats III, consist of a plurality of uniform hinge-connections I4, each unit composed of an upper hinge-,half Il shown in perspective in Figure 4 and a lower hinge-half I9 shown in perspective in Figure. Said upper hinge-half I 8 comprises a substantially at, S-shaped member preferably molded of plastic or other similar substance and is provided at its bottom with a pair of aligned, and spaced apart hinge-knuckles 20 and the upper portion of said upper hinge-half I8 is provided with apair of spaced'apart, tubular, open bearings 2I preferably formed integral with the body 22 of said upper hinge-half I8.

The lower hinge-half I9 of hinge-connection I4 is provided at its top with a central hinge-kunckle 23 wide enough to be freely inserted in alignment and between the spaced apart hinge-knuckles 20 of the upper hinge-half of said hinge-connection I4.

Assembled, said hinge-knuckles 20 and 23 of the upper and lower hinge-halves' are in alignment and adapted to receive a headed hinge-pin or pintle 24 which may be riveted over to form a head 25 for a permanent connection.

The lower hinge-half I9 of said hinge-connection is also provided at its lowermost end with an open, elongated, tubular bearing 26 which preferably extends to the full width of said hinge-half, the free ends 21 of which are adapted to be hingedly accommodated in the spaced apart, open tubular bearings 2| of said upper hinge-half I8.

As will be noted, the lower hinge-half I9 shown in Figure is of substantially cruciform shape, the lower central portion 28 of 'which integrally supports the bearing 26 for the bar I3 of the slats I0. This central portion 28 is provided with an outwardly ared lower end 30 which merges with the upper edge 3l of slot 29 of the bearing 26, as shown.

In order to attach said hinge-connection I4 to bar I3 of the slats I0, the bearing 26 is open or slotted as indicated by the numeral 29 in its full length so as to provide an entrance for said bar I3 when assembling.

The upper hinge-half I8, as it hingedly engages the free ends 21 of the tubular bearing 26, tilts slightly inwardly, due to its design, while the lower hinge-half I9 tilts slightly outwardly, due to the abutment ridge 32 which extends longitudinally between the inner faces 33 of the hingeknuckles which come in abutment with the ared face 36 of the lower hinge-half I3, thereby determining the angular position of the latter and thus providing a uniform break of the blind vin the proper direction when raising, lowering or tilting the same.

In normal vertical position of the blind, the hinges will assume a position as shown in Figure l, which clearly shows how the bars I3 of the slats I0 are removably held in the bearings 26, this also applies when the blind is in a collapsed condition as shown in Figure 8 or in a tilted condition, not shown.

The aforesaid flared end 30 of the lower hingehalf I9 comes in abutment with the edge 34 of the upper hinge-half IB when the latter is raised to a position as shown in Figure '7, in full lines, in order to attach or disengage the bar I3 of the slats I0 to or from the band I5.

While the abutting edge 32 (Figure 4) and the flared face 36 (Figure 5) serve to determine the angular position of the hinge-halves, the abutting edge 34 (Figure 4) and the flared lower end 30 (Figure 5) serve a dual purpose and is of great importance, rst, to limit the movement of the hinge-halves I9 and I8 in such manner that the slot 29 of the lower hinge-half I9 and the open ends 35 of the tubular bearings 2I come in alignment with each other when abutting, as best shown in Figure 7, in full linesy and therefore adapted to insert or Withdrawn the bar I3 of the slats I0; secondly, that the operator would deiinitely know by touch that both, the slot 29 and the open ends 35 are in alignment, that is, in a position to readily and quickly insert the bar I3 in the bearing 26 or withdraw same if so desired.

After the bands I6 have been attached to the front and rear edges of the slats I0 as previously described, it will be observed that the hinge-connections I4 are slightly inwardly disposed (see Figure 1) towards the opposite edges of the slats so that when the rope I6 is operated to raise, lower or tilt the blind the hinge-connections will always break uniformly inwardly.

A plurality of uniform hinge-connections I4 are assembled in like manner to complete the blind to the desired length and, obviously, the distance between the slats Ill is determined by the` length of the hinge-connections which support the slats at the front and rear edges. Y

A convenient and quick method to apply the bands to the slats is to attach the rear bands to the slats first so that the slats will hang in place after which the slats can be readily attached to the front bands. This process may be reversed when it is desired to detach the bands from the slats by removing the band from the front first and then at the rear.

To insure a pleasing appearance of the Venetian blind, the bands as well as the slats may be of any desired color and the material may be plastic or other suitable material for the hingeconnections should it be desired to shape the same inthe form of flowers, bows or other decorative designs.

The slats as well as the bands may be readily cleaned when required and the method of construction of the blind permits of quickly disconnecting the bands from the slats without removing the complete blind from the window frame.

Each band is independent of the other, thus permitting that only one of the bands be removed, leaving the blind intact, this band may be cleaned and again attached to the blind after which the other band is removed and cleaned and reattached to the slats, thus the blind will be cleaned without taking it completely apart.

Of course, the width of the blind regulates the number of bands, ordinarily two bands are sufficient, although should the blind be unusually wide there may be required one or more intermediate bands. The above described bands I5 may apply to slats as shown in my Patent No. 2,251,361.

As is well known, a Venetian blind comprises in general a head piece, a tilting bar, a bottom bar as well as pulleys and other accessories, all commonly in use to raise, lower or tilt a blind and since there is no novelty in these parts asf sembled they have been eliminated from the description and are therefore not shown in the present drawing.

A blind as described herewith is readily insalled and operated and the bands may be remo/ed or the slats replaced without the use of too s.

Having now fully described the invention and explained its advantages, I wish it understood that within the broader scope of my invention, as dened by the appended claims, various modications and adaptations may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a Venetian blind of the character described, a series of parallel slats each provided with longitudinal bars within the limits of the lateral edges of the slats; bands supporting said slats, comprising a series of hingedly connected portions, each portion composed of an upper hinge-half and a lower hinge-half; the lower hinge-halves, each adapted to pivot about one of said longitudinal bars of said slats, each upper hinge-halfadapted to cooperate with the lower hinge-half next above to retain the associated bar in position.

2. In a Venetian blind of the character described, a series of parallel slats each provided with longitudinal bars within the limits of the lateral edges of the slats and substantial integral therewith; along the edges thereoft'bands supporting said slats, comprising a series of hlngedly connected portions, each portion composed of an upper hinge-half and a lower hingehalf; horizontally aligned hinge-knuckles for said upper and lower hinge-halves and a pintle therefor to provide an intermediate hinge joint between the slats; the free end of the joined lower hinge-half provided with a centrally supported, tubular bearing adapted to pivotally engage one of said longitudinally disposed bars of said slats said upper hinge-halfprovided with means to detachably retain said bar in position in said tubular bearing,

3. In a Venetian blind of the character described, a series of parallel slats each provided with longitudinal bars within the limits of the lateral edges of the slats and substantial integral therewith; bands supporting said slats, comprising a series of hingedly connected portions, each portion composed of an upper hinge-half and a lower hinge-half; horizontally aligned hinge-knuckles for said upper and lower hingehalves and a pintle therefor to provide an intermediate hinge-joint between the slats; the free end of the joined lower'hinge-half provided with a centrally supported, tubular bearing adapted to pivotally receive one of said longitudinally disposed bars of said slats; the free end of the joined upper hinge-half next below provided with spaced apart bearing sockets adapted to hingedly embrace the ends of said tubular bearing and means to retain said longitudinal bar of said slats in detachable position in said tubular bearing.

l 4. In a Venetian blind of the character described, a series of parallel slats each provided with longitudinal bars within the limits of the lateral edges of the slats and substantial integral therewith; bands supporting said slats comprising a series of hingedly connected portions, each portion composed of an upper hinge-half and a lower hinge-half united thereto to provide an intermediate hinge-joint between said slats; the free end of the joined lower hinge-half having a depending, centrally supported tubular bearing provided with a longitudinal slot extending the entire length thereof; the free end of the joined upper hinge-half provided with a pair oi spaced apart bearing sockets, each having a longitudinal opening and adapted to hingedly engage the ends of the tubular bearing of the succeeding lower hinge-half there-above; the longitudinal slot of said tubular bearing sockets, when positioned in parallel alignment with said longitudinal opening, providing a passageway for insertion of one of the bars of said slats into said tubular bearing and means to retain said bar therein.

MAUD McGREW. 

